Professor

Can anyone give a bit of background to this site? Like who and when started, where is the server located and what kind, who currently owns the site, etc.?

Thanks.

Teh Jatt

i came up with an idea.... i've been the owner since it was started, back in 2000.

It was a big secret but not any more.

55M2G7L

gotta talk to astroboy n soopa

Professor

Aahhh, so you'd be willing to sell it for $1.2 M?

Teh Jatt

ok it was TIM i believe and then he handed the site over to and astro.....



but still... i own it......

jcl_cls01

snook (tim) owned this site when I joined in 2001. He had a nice white TL. He is the owner of http://www.autocarparts.com company. I think he owns a Z now.

Ken1997TL

soopa

Tim started the site back in 99. Bout the same time I bought my first TL...

There were no forums or anything of the sort... just some pictures and info.

We were on a honda/acura site that was big at the time... but... it was filled with big mouth civic kiddies... constantly lost data... and was down the majority of the time.

I offered to help tim get forums running... so we did. We got the A-TL site, and with some creative gorilla marketting... we got big.

I eventually sold my TL for a CL. The CL guys were still abandoned at the honda/acura site...

I wen't back to give it a try... but couldn't take it. The site sucked.. .horribly. It was a honda site. not an acura site.

So, I started up some CL forums on the TL site, bougth Acura-CL.com... and redirected our domain to the CL/Tl forums.


All was good for awhile... then Tim and I had some differences of opinion.

Well, around christmas of 2000, i found myself banned from the site I helped create. I was pissed.


But I decided to cut my losses. I took my CL domain, and we got moving on our own forums.

This stayed like that for awhile, and eventually Tim and I started to smooth thigns over..


For the next few years, CL + TL got along, we remained seperate, but Tim and I helped each other out. Whenever one site would have downtime, we'd host the users for a day or two until the other site got back up.


Fast forward to late 2002...

I created the TSX site.

it was moving along well, until one of our very own admins erased all our data and backups.


that put us out of the game for a bit, clubtsx reigned. eventually... like all other sites do... it began to suck. so i opened TSX back up, and with tons of help of some of our megas... we got it rolling.


for the next year or so TSX and CL chugged along, growing rapidly.


TL on the other hand, was losing its focus.


Tim was concentrating on his parts business, and the site had little direction... and no major update in 3+ years.


I decided to come back to where I started it all. Tim and I worked out some things. I took ownership of the TL site.


Now I owned CL, TL, and TSX.


So I forged the plans for AcuraZine... revealed the brand sometime last year... and then finally made the biiggest step towards making it one community by synchronizing the user data between all sites. This meant all current and future users could browse seemlessly through all of our seperate, distinct, but familiar communities.


So. To answer your question... I own the joint. All of it.

2005 will be our best year yet. We have some HUGE plans this year... far more ambitious then anything I ever could of fathomed in the past.

AcuraZine is already one of the largest automotive communities on the net... by 2006 we will be the largest. We are already the biggest Acura community ever to exist... by about 20 times over. Not only are we the biggest... but the best.

soopa

yep. a very sick Z.

Teh Jatt

basically what soopa is saying that i'm still the owner... not legally but i am.... i am trust me..... the jatt owner of acurazine..

ZeroPSI

Theortically, since this is on the Internet, and Al Gore invented the Internet, this is all property of him.

soopa

:true:

jcg878

soopa, is Acurazine profitable or break-even?

dark inspire

thanks for the info soopa! now if u dont mind me askin what exactly happend w/b A-TL and A-wrld?

55M2G7L

so where does astrboy come into play? were you guys like friends or something?

matelot

whose tim ?

Teh Jatt

no can't tell that sir.....

cM3go

They hated Jatt over there, but Soopa felt bad for Jatt and saw the young buck he was, as a peace offering Soopa took Jatt under his wing and the world was happy again.

Jerky

SOOPA

that was a cool story....

i love hearing business stories...this is great!

soopa

we lost tons of money for years.

this year... we almost broke even. come April though, it will be a loss

2005 will be much better though, weve got some deals signed and all is pretty and well.


I'm happy to say i've been able to make a success out of this site without turning it into an indian bazaar like so many site before me.


Go anywhere... anywhere else... fucking banner ad fest. Looks horrific.

Members come first. My hobby comes second. My pockets come last.

Teh Jatt

yes i will tell u that on next meet.

JWhite1301

so what Soopa is trying to say (in a few less words) is that Acurazine all other sites out there.

cM3go

:racist:


awesome... people, buy Acurazine gear and help the site!

jcg878

Thanks for having taste It seems wrong that you should lose money on it IMO.

55M2G7L

Your a great person, i hope you make all the profit you want and need

Professor

Thanks Soopa, great info on the history!

Can you give us any tech specs concerning the site? Type of server, etc.?

soopa

every owner and member of that site was once a member here.

they got banned for being putzes... people we didn't want here.

so they need some place to congregate.


thats pretty much the jist of it.


no big deal really, until a member of OUR site said something bad about them on OUR site... and they called his employer and got him fired.

their sick, immoral fucks, and i would laugh if they died a fiery death.


one good thing i can say, is it keeps alot of the people we ban from cocming back and bugging us. they have someplace where they can get attention with the rest of the attention whores.


no other site has any Acura content. their all just off topic. off topic with an occasional car post. and even then... their off topics are 1% the size of ours.


haha. how many sites now have tried to compete with us? shit. 100's in the past 5 years. every single one has failed.

there is not a single compareable site out there...

JWhite1301

Soopa,

Have you thought about a donation program from members for upkeep of the site?

Voluntary of course

jcg878

That doesn't even sound real, it's so wrong

55M2G7L

Thats very very impressive, im proud to be part of it

Teh Jatt

soopa and i had our differences back in da day, when i was owner

and soopa beat me up :'( and took over this site

55M2G7L

and astroboy?

soopa

astroboy was a member of the old honda/acura site before we started this site.

when he came over here after we started up... i made him a moderator... cuz he was always a cool cat... and seemed to level out my somtimes hot headedness


he was a mod, then a mega.


the site hit some rough times, about the same time i was going through some rough things personall. I was laid off, lost my car, lost my girl, lost my place. shit sucked.

most of the moderators at the time decided to start their own ventures... or go help others who had backstabbed us int he past.

robb stuck by us, and contributed significantly to our finances...

without robb, i probably would of called it quits. he is 50% of the reason this site is where it is today.


after this, robb and i met personally, and turned out to be great friends.

most people i meet off here, i cant hang out with in person.

robb, somehow, ended up being one of the greatest friends i've ever had.


for that, were in this together till the end. robb will always be the second half of this site.


as we reach mamouth proportions this year, and do things no other has ever imagined, robb will be right there with me.


he'll also be handling several canadian compliments to this site we plan to unveil soon.

JWhite1301

Soopa,

So you were 17 when you started helping this site and 18 when you owned it?

Impressive--at 17 I just wanted to goof off.

Where does Astroboy come into play?

cM3go

Hopefully we can get a National Meet Organized someday, that would be awesome

soopa

naa, we did at one point... and it helped tremendously.

we don't need it anymore.


i got back on my feet eventually, the site broke even this year, and for 2005 a profit is insured.

all without sacrificing any of our principles.

that is what i am most proud of.


a big thanks is also due to SiGGy. without his donations of equipment in the past, and his server management expertise... it would be tough to run this place.

not only would it cost more, but it would be slower, and basically suck almost as bad as every other site. heh

never met a server admin who could shave 16MB off every process like its his morning routine

dark inspire

thanks man! ive been wondering that for quite a while. this site is truely remarkable.

Teh Jatt

yeah i told soopa about astro.... astro seemed a good kid to me... i looked up to him as myolder brother.... so i told soopa to make himmod, then mega mod and then u know the rest.

soopa

yes.

i started a freelance web business when i was 14.

i got hired by a major NASDAQ traded corporation at 17.

i soon after bought my 2000 TL... and thus it begun.


see previous posts about astro.

astro == robb.

soopa

this summer

we have HUGE plans. gonna take some more time to finalize... then well let yall know whats up